Incesticide (DGC) The members of Nirvana did not set out to become superstars, didn't expect to move millions of units, had no way to know that an entire generation was equally tired of being lied to -- by their parents, by their government and by the music on the radio. They set out simply to write songs that spoke to their experience of the world and that felt good when played. Loud. That insistence on emotional honesty is really all that connects the so-called Seattle bands; otherwise, Nirvana and Pearl Jam have nothing in common. Weird Al Yankovic lampooned Kurt Cobain's withdrawal into incoherence (remember the Who stuttering "My Generation"?), but laughing at "Smells Like Teen Spirit" misses the point: Some emotions are so deeply rooted that only the hideous abuse of an electric guitar and an untutored scream will do to express them. The Nirvana compilation, "Incesticide," freezes fragments of a creative process that three or four years later miraculously caught the world's fancy. Back in 1989, when "Mexican Seafood" was recorded for C/Z's first "Teriyaki Asthma" compilation (it is remixed here), Nirvana was just three scraggly guys from Aberdeen with bad equipment, half-formed ideas and a blue-collar aesthetic. "Incesticide" offers a glimpse at the process whereby they hammered melody to fury and came up with gold. "Incesticide" was originally planned as a collection of otherwise unavailable remnants of Nirvana's early Sub Pop repertoire; its working title was said to be "Cash Cow." The project moved to DGC, presumably to allow for a more comprehensive selection, but it's far from complete. Missing are splendid covers of the Velvet Underground, Kiss and the Wipers, plus a half-dozen live tracks released elsewhere and even some of "Nevermind's" B sides. "Incesticide's" tracks are scattered -- in no particular order -- and drawn from a variety of sources, including Nirvana's first 1987 demo ("Hairspray Queen"), the last Sub Pop single ("Sliver"/"Dive"), the Japanese-import EP "Hormoaning" (less two tracks), assorted BBC sessions and two local compilations. The chaos of the collection suggests a struggle to diffuse the burdens of fame. Following "Nevermind" is a creative straitjacket. "Incesticide" presents Nirvana in a host of settings, including a whimsical cover of a Devo B side ("Turn Around") and a pair of tunes from the Vaselines ("Molly's Lips," "Son of a Gun"), the Scottish band since mutated into Eugenius. It exposes ragged early sessions ("Downer," "Mexican Seafood"), reinvents "(New Wave) Polly," a troubling song about rape, and revives "Dive," "Sliver" and "Aneurysm." It creates breathing room. And that's the point: Nirvana was a great band before "Nevermind" topped the charts. "Incesticide" is a reminder of that and -- maybe more important -- proof of Nirvana's ability, on occasion, to fail. The unpolished forces at work and sometimes in conflict within the band are plainly exposed, as is a broader and rougher range of sounds, styles and interests. That done, the group can go about writing and recording new material. With luck, perhaps "Incesticide" will remind Nirvana's audience that freedom to fail is the only useful definition of artistic freedom. GRANT ALDEN Copyright 1997 by Rolling Stone